Ask a SHRM HR Knowledge Advisor
Is my company required to let current or former
employees access their personnel files?

Possibly. When someone asks
to see his or her personnel
file, it’s natural for HR professionals to wonder why.

Does the individual want to
copy information and use it in
a legal complaint? Or does he
or she merely want to check if
the records are accurate?

Although there is no federal legislation requiring private employers to give workers access to their personnel
files, there are state laws
that may regulate an
organization’s responsibilities to its current and
former employees.

Often, state laws
address issues such as
who can view the file,
the frequency of access
allowed, who can
obtain copies, exceptions to the information
employees can see, the type
of records that must be kept,
how to make corrections to
the files, what legal remedies
are available and, finally,
what data may be disclosed
to third parties.

Even when a state has
no such regulations, such as
Texas, for example, you may
want to create a policy regarding access to personnel files.

This ensures that employees
and managers understand that
the company follows a consistent approach to the issue.

Start by reviewing whichlaws may apply. Multistateemployers will need a flexiblepolicy that covers all workers.

It might include a statementsuch as “Access to personnelfiles will be provided accord-ing to state law.”It’s also important to deter-mine what constitutes a per-sonnel record that a personcan view. Generally, organiza-tions place sensitive informa-tion, such as pre-employmentreference and backgroundchecks, in a confidential filethat employees cannot see.

Most organizations, however, allow workers to access
a general personnel file, which
may include applications, job
descriptions, performance
reviews, and warnings or disciplinary notices. It is always a
good idea to have your policy
reviewed by an attorney, and
companies may want to consider the following questions
before drafting specific rules:

• Must employees request
to see their employee file in
writing?

• Will workers be allowed
to photocopy items in their
file?

• Will access be granted to
everyone or only to specific
people, at the organization’s
discretion?

• Will people be allowed to
assign their right to inspect
their file to a union representative or lawyer?

• Should the organizationhave a procedure for workersto challenge informa-tion they believe to beincorrect?

• Will people be
allowed to review their
file after hours?

• Should the organization allow employees
to see their personnel
file only for specific
reasons?

• Should the company limit
workers’ right to review disciplinary actions and performance appraisals?

• Should the organization
limit how often an employee
can view his or her file in a
calendar year or some other
time frame?

A good policy will coverthese issues and leave nodoubt aboutwhichrecordsemployeescan access.

—John
Dooney, SHRM-SCP

HR SOLUTIONSWho’sJob-HoppingNow?

Maybe Millennials don’tdeserve to be the only genera-tion labeled as “job hoppers.”People ages 55 to 65 arechanging jobs almost as muchas their Millennial co-workers,according to a new surveyfrom Namely, an HR softwareand services company.

“Careers are more fluid,and it has become moresocially acceptable—if notexpected—to move from job tojob,” said Matt Straz, founderand CEO of Namely. “As moreopportunities arise, this [older]generation is embracing theability to move around in theircareers.”—Dana Wilkie